By RICARDO WELLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
rwells@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas Agricultural & Industrial Corporation terminated 13 employees on Friday, with the dismissals ranging from longstanding employees to recently confirmed workers.
A statement issued by the corporation confirmed the disengagement exercise was part of an ongoing "comprehensive review" of operations by management and its board of directors.
Categories for dismissal were: redundancy; contractual; probation; and for cause, according to the BAIC statement.
Sources interviewed by The Tribune confirmed that eight employees were expected to be terminated as of 3pm Friday, but suggested that number could increase to as many as 20 "pending circumstances".
Officers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force were called in to keep the peace after several workers were reportedly blocked from entering the building.
The dismissals came as a shock to some, and were characterized as "politically motivated" by Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis.
Mr Davis, along with PLP chairman Fred Mitchell, supported several of the terminated employees, who they identified as PLP supporters.
According to Mr Davis, the letters given out on Friday ranged from outright termination to recommendations to take leave.
He added that many of the letters he reviewed didn't exhibit just cause for dismissal.
Anthon Thompson, a senior manager with responsibility for the Animal Feed Mill, told The Tribune that employees were informed of their termination or asked to take substantial pay cuts to stay with the corporation.
Senior executives of BAIC remained inside the complex for much of the time, with security officials attached to the corporation restricting the press and other concerned persons to a small parking lot opposite the building.
"This is a complete travesty," said Mr Thompson, an employee for some 15 years.
Mr Thompson stressed that he was a striving young Bahamian with a family, and urged the government to step in and make right on its promise to be the government of the people.
He said he was shocked by the firings, but also the manner in which they were handled.
Asked about his career at BAIC, he said: "I am a hardworking individual who has gotten results, after results, after results for this corporation."
Mr Thompson added: "I have a stellar record in this corporation. I have been used, I have been abused and I have not been appreciated in this corporation; and I can provide you with the records to prove that."
According to the senior manager, his efforts at the BAIC's Fish and Farm store recovered thousands of dollars in lost profits.
Mr Thomspson said: "I went into that entity, within three-months, within six-months, nine-months I turned profits around to hundreds of thousands of dollars on behalf of the Bahamian people."
"You know what they tried to do to me? They tried to replace me with a gentleman almost of 60 years of age," he continued.
Mr Thompson said as a result of that move, he was moved to the Animal Feed Mill, another section he said he helped transform.
"I show up to work, do what I have to do, I keep law and order in the place, I make recommendations to bring efficiency and effectiveness up; and this is the result for me at the end of the day."
Mr Thompson said: "I am being pushed on the unemployment line unfairly and unjustly."
He said: "This is unacceptable and I say to you, Dr Hubert Minnis the Prime Minister of this nation, I am looking forward to you, I am calling on you to correct this wrong.
"This is nonsense. You said it is the people's time. I am a Bahamian so I am a part of the people and I am calling on you, sir, as Prime Minister of this country to call in to account BAIC's executive board, BAIC's Chairman Michael Foulkes, BAIC's General Manager and all persons who had a hand in this nasty thing that happened to me today.
"I have a family to feed. I am a responsible parent. I take care of my bills. I am a contributing citizen of this country. I do not deserve this. This is wrong, correct this, sir. Prove to me and to Bahamians that it is really the people's time," he said.
On Friday morning, The Tribune saw several other employees leave BAIC's office with termination letters.
Mr Davis said: "We are appalled by the actions of the government in allowing these things to happen. They won the hearts of the Bahamian people, to support them on theme that it is the people's time, but clearly, truly today it is not the people's time, it is more the bottom-line time."
According to recent labour statistics, unemployment has slightly increased from 9.9 percent to 10.1 percent, with numbers showing a loss of 2,555 jobs in the public sector.
Attorney General Carl Bethel has suggested the cuts have saved the country $75 million.
The revelation and the subsequent defence of the cuts have been branded as "shameful" and "hypocritical" by both political and labour observers.
BAIC Chairman Michael Foulkes could not be reached for comment on the firings up to press time.
Comments
John 6 years, 2 months ago
With NIB payouts (expenses) now exceeding its revenues (workers contributions and returns on investments) government must really tread carefully as it continues to fire people. Not only does it push up the rate of unemployment and put additional burden on NIB and Social Services but it sends shock waves through the private sector who, too, may want to shed workers. This then will have negative impacts on the economy and the downward spiral will continue. While government may have saved $75 million on workers who got sent home, the real effect of this on the economy is much more. The code words now should be JOBs, JOBS JOBS and not fire, fire, fire. Even bid business is hurting now.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 2 months ago
Soooooooo, when did Michael Foulkes take over BAIC????? ......... When was Pastor Emmanuel fired?????? ............. Jesus, take the wheel!!!!!!!!!!!
hrysippus 6 years, 2 months ago
This is a good start and it is in the best interests of the country if this policy of the government ridding itself of as many of these fiscal parasites that we call civil servants as possible continues. They do not create any wealth in an economy but only suck the wealth created by the private sector or live off money borrowed by the government that our children's children will still be burdened with. It would be good to amend the constitution so that no government could expend more than it collected in taxes, no government could hire on government workers in excess of, say, 10% of the total work force available in the country. Also the outgoing Prime Minister's pension should be put to the people in a referendum to choose and not these millions of dollars we have to pay out to corrupt buffoons and their spouses, when deceased, who have totalling mismanaged our economy. A referendum is very unlikely to happen in my lifetime as these politicians have seen what happens to then when one is held, and they want to stay in power more than they want to act righteously.
Porcupine 6 years, 2 months ago
hrysippus, I generally agree with you. I would like for you to read the attached article for a different slant. https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/...">https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/... I found it rather enlightening. Thanks
hrysippus 6 years, 2 months ago
Hi Porcupine, thank you for the link, it is an interesting point of view but despite Mr. Kavanaugh's propensity to use long words his arguments have a couple if flaws. First, Taxes were first raised in the precursors to our modern democracies to buy weapons and pay soldiers to make war and were nothing to do with stopping the rich get richer. This principle is still in effect. Secondly he discounts the relationship between the value an economy produces and the amount of money created by the government to represent that wealth. The result of ignoring that relationship can be seen today in Venezuela and in many communist countries in the past. The central bank controls the money supply in this country, why not have the bank print an extra five hundred dollars per week and give that to each citizen, then we would all be rich, right? No, wrong, we would just have hyperinflation and the cost of imports would climb drastically high such that most of us would not be able to afford the. One of my forebears was a founder member of the Fabian Society who not only informed much of the early socialist thinking but also founded the LSE where several of our socialist NPs got their ideas. So interesting ideas but wrong. It may also have been a mistake to quote Henry Ford who was known as a racist bigot who supported the ideals expressed by Germany's National Socialists,
sheeprunner12 6 years, 2 months ago
Perry doesnot deserve a pension. Wutless!!!
hrysippus 6 years, 2 months ago
exactly.
Porcupine 6 years, 2 months ago
Agreed.
SP 6 years, 2 months ago
Don't give Perry all of the credit. Hubert Ingraham held the reigns of friends, family, and lovers governance longer than Christie Ingraham is even more guilty of pandering to special interest groups and running the country into the ground while grinning all the way to the bank!
realfreethinker 6 years, 2 months ago
Whilst I understand how difficult it is being unemployed, can someone please tell these people. they are not entitled to a job. You work at the pleasure of the employer.
happyfly 6 years, 2 months ago
How about Brave and Freddy getting in on the action. They hired a bunch of these people with no idea how they were going to pay them. They stole every red nickle of a hope this man had of keeping his job and now they are standing behind like a couple of hitman, goading him to take his frustrations out on politicians that are behaving responsibly. Our future is not safe at all so long as we have these old PLP scum suckers trying to take advantage of everything negative in this country, instead of leading this country forwards and upwards
DEDDIE 6 years, 2 months ago
Although I sympathize with individuals losing their jobs, the government must take steps to bring the deficit under control. Either we swallow the small bitter pill administered by our owns hands now or swallow what the IMF would push down our throats later.
birdiestrachan 6 years, 2 months ago
The more people they put out of work. the bigger salary increase they can give themselves.
sealice 6 years, 2 months ago
the unemployment rate doesn't mean Jacqushite in the Bahamas think about the 1000's of people that are employed by the government as favors? Those aren't positions to fill when the employees are let go and if these employees are so good why does every single government business have to be subsidized?
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